The CITES Secretariat welcomes each and every one of you to the 16th meeting of the Conference of the Parties (CoP16). Nearly 2,000 participants and over 250 media representatives have pre-registered for this meeting, making it possibly the highest-attended CoP for CITES – which also celebrates its 40th anniversary at this meeting.

We would like to thank the Kingdom of Thailand for hosting the meeting for this special occasion.

We are also grateful for the financial support from countries, organizations and private companies to the Sponsored Delegates Project for delegates from the least developed countries, developing countries and countries with economies in transition. The donors are listed below:

Parties and territories: Austria, Canada, China, Finland, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the United States of America and Nunavut (Canada)

This is the CITES Daily Journal for CoP16. This publication will provide the daily working programme, and indicate any meetings and social events taking place each day of the CoP. It will be available from 08h30 in the document distribution area, at the registration desk, at various locations in the Queen Sirikit National Convention Centre (QSNCC) and on the CITES website (http://www.cites.org).

Announcing a meeting or an event in the Daily Journal: If you would like a meeting or social event to be listed in the Daily Journal, please ensure that the title, time and venue of your meeting or event are emailed to Ms Haruko Okusu (haruko.okusu@cites.org) or placed in the Daily Journal pigeon hole at the document distribution area no later than 16h30 on the previous day.

Arranging a location for a meeting: If you wish to book a room for a meeting, please contact Ms Virginia Rothenbuhler (mobile: 090 798 6202, email: Virginia.rothenbuhler@cites.org).

Collecting documents: Documents will be distributed on a daily basis in the pigeon holes at the document distribution area. Delegates are invited to check their pigeon holes frequently and at least before each session.

All official documents produced during the CoP (summary records of the plenary and Committee sessions, in-session documents, information documents, the Daily Journal, etc.) will be published on the CITES website (http://www.cites.org) as soon as they become available.

Distributing documents

Informative documents: If you wish to distribute a document, you should ensure that it clearly identifies who is presenting it and provide a sufficient number at the document distribution area, where the number of delegations and participants will be displayed for that purpose. It will then be distributed in the pigeon holes.

Official information documents: If you are a Party representative and wish a document to be included in the official list of CoP16 information documents, please contact Mr Laurent Gauthier (laurent.gauthier@cites.org) and Ms Maritza de Campos (maritza.campos@cites.org).

Queries from organizations: If an organization has any questions, it should contact Ms Pia Jonsson (mobile: 090 798 07 26, email: pia.jonsson@cites.org).

Internet access: Free wireless Internet access is provided throughout QSNCC. The Center also houses an Internet café located in the Atrium.